A few years back I resurrected this conversation on the Hollywood Saloon forums, and it turned into quite the lively discussion. It was a trivia question I heard in college, and back in the 1990s there was quite the specific answer because there were so few actors who qualified.

The question is this: What actors or actresses have played two different characters at least three times each?

The example we give is the most obvious answer: Harrison Ford. Harrison Ford was Indiana Jones and Han Solo. Two different characters the actor has played at least three times each. Two different movies series.

With the sequel explosion in Hollywood in the 1990s and 2000s, this list has quadrupled.

The conversation on the Saloon forums was terrific and resulted in additions to the list that should have been counted back in college, but our movie knowledge wasn’t vast enough then. And new additions were pointed out and fun was had batting back and forth actors who qualified for inclusion.

The reason I resurrected this conversation, and am posting it here on But, I Digress…, is to keep the conversation going because there are new members to this exclusive club all the time!

While not AS exclusive as it once was, it is still quite the short list. Please note that for a film to qualify, it had to have a substantial release domestically in the United States.

Below is the list of elite actors who now qualify for this unique distinction. And for the fun of it, we are keeping a tally of the actors who are on the cusp – one movie away from being included on this exclusive list.

UPDATE! – The latest addition is the third female to our list, Anna Faris, with her reprisal of Jeanette the Chipmunk in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip. The first role she played three times was Cindy Campbell is 4 movies in the Scary Movie franchise. Interestingly enough, she is on the cusp of joining the 3/3 club, as she played Sam Sparks in two Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs movies.

*Stuart Little 3 was not a theatrical release, but it is still him playing the same character
**Saruman appears in the extended edition of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, not the original theatrical release. With The Clone Wars (2008), Christopher Lee will become the first member of the 3 and 3 club. And with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Christopher Lee became the sole member of the 4 and 3 club. Hugo Weaving, Sylvester Stallone and Ben Stiller are also members of the 3 and 3 club.

Until 2014, perhaps the most interesting thing about this list was that it included only one woman. And she has been on the list from the beginning of this trivia question, and was usually the one that EVERYONE missed. That woman was Talia Shire.

And through the conversation, we learned that Eastwood’s Man With No Name is more than likely not the same character in all three movies, but since we aren’t 100% sure, and the court of public opinion usually names him as one of the actors – I know I did when I heard the question the first time! – we include him on the list.

Here is a link to the current discussion on the Hollywood Saloon forums: Movie Trilogy Challenge. We are also discussing this topic in the Hollywood Saloon Facebook Group, where some of the more recent additions were brought to my attention.

I will post updates to this list as they come about. Perhaps I will even find a better way to organize the list, too. Right now it seems so random. If you have any suggestions for additions for the list or of actors who are on the cusp of making this list, please let me know.